Good News for Buyers – Loan Limits Going Up

Good News for Buyers – Loan Limits Going Up

As a result of rising home values, the Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) recently announced that the maximum conforming loan limits for mortgages backed by Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac in 2019. In most of the U.S., the 2019 maximum conforming loan limit for one-unit properties will be $484,350, an increase from $453,100 in 2018.

In what they consider “high cost” areas the loan limits will be rising even more. In most of these areas, the new limit will be 150% higher than $484,350 which would put the limit in those areas to $756,535.

The Housing and Economic Recovery Act (HERA) requires that the baseline conforming loan limit be adjusted each year for Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac to reflect the change in the average U.S. home price. FHFA published its third quarter 2018 House Price Index (HPI) report, which includes estimates for the increase in the average U.S. home value over the last four quarters. According to FHFA’s seasonally adjusted, expanded-data HPI, house prices increased 6.9 percent, on average, between the third quarters of 2017 and 2018. Therefore, the baseline maximum conforming loan limit in 2019 will increase by the same percentage.